ELA8+Drama

toc =Topic= Through analyzing the arts, focusing on the dramatic performance of plays, speeches and poems, students will strengthen their skills in interpreting diction, and how connotation may be enhanced through tone and inflection. Additionally, they will strengthen their skills at writing valid arguments.
 * Dramatically Speaking **

=Common Core Standards= Students will:
 * RL.8.3** Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story propel the action, reveal aspects of character, or provoke a decision.
 * RL.8.6** Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience create such effects as suspense and humor.
 * RL.8.7** Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stay faithful to or depart from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the directors or actors.
 * W.8.1** Critique and write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
 * SL.8.3** Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevancy of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
 * L.8.5** Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
 * L.8.5a** Interpret figures of speech (e.g., verbal irony, puns) in context.
 * L.8.5b** Use the relationship between particular words to better understand each of the words.

=Suggested Student Objectives= //**SWBAT:**//
 * Read and discuss a variety of dramatic fiction and nonfiction about plays, playwrights, public speakers, and poet;
 * Analyze how particular lines of dialogue propel the action and reveal aspects of character;
 * Compare and contrast characters, plots, themes, settings, and literary techniques used in plays and films;
 * Conduct research on a playwright or public speaker of choice;
 * Discuss how a sound argument is essential to engaging speakers;
 * Participate in group discussions and critically evaluate classmates' arguments;
 * Perform for classmates in a variety of styles (e.g., informational presentations, dramatic interpretation, poetry slams, or persuasive speeches;
 * Analyze the extent to which a performance or production stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made in the production.

= Terminology/ Academic Vocabulary- =


 * **Academic Vocabulary** ||  **Text Based Vocabulary**  ||  **ELA Vocabulary**  ||
 * Claims || Defoliate ||  Stage directions  ||
 * Evidence || Pause || Act  ||
 * Evaluation || Chauvinism || Scene  ||
 * Reasoning || Realizable || Comedy  ||
 * Relevance || Exasperate || Dialogue  ||
 * Interpret || Prometheus || Drama  ||
 * Connotation || Crumple || Flashback  ||
 * Denotation || Class Struggle || Teleplay  ||
 * Aspects || Mutilate || Monologue  ||
 * Incidents || Elitism || Narration  ||
 * Propel || Bourgeoisie || Screen play  ||
 * Allusion || Enrapture || Tragedy  ||
 * || Fester || Suspense  ||
 * || Replication || Camera angles  ||
 * || Stereotype || Zoom  ||
 * || Emphasis || Close up  ||
 * || Ping || Extreme close up  ||
 * || Colonialism || Diction  ||
 * || Scrutinize || humor  ||
 * || Aberrant || Script  ||
 * || Hap || Characterization  ||
 * || Liberate || Point of view  ||
 * || Montage || Audience  ||
 * || Quizzical || Production  ||
 * || Matriarch || Director  ||
 * || Defer || Figurative language  ||
 * || Enunciate || Pun  ||

= = =Suggested Readings=

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Sorry,Right Number by Stephen King "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.
 * Required Reading: DRAMA**


 * Add"l Drama**
 * //Sorry, Wrong Number// by Lucille Fletcher
 * //Famous Americans: 22 Short Plays for the Classroom, Grades 4-8// (Liza Schafer, editor)
 * Memoirs and Poetry of Pablo Neruda / //The Book of Questions//
 * Poetry of Nikki Giovanni "A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long" in //Acolytes: Poems//
 * Sojourner Truth's Speech "Ain't I a Woman"
 * Dr. King's Speeches "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream"
 * //A Midsummer Night's Dream// by Shakespeare


 * Biography**
 * //Sorrow's Kitchen:The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston// (Great Achievers Series) by Mary E. Lyons
 * Rod Serling
 * Alfred Hitchcock


 * Films/ Performances**
 * Anatole Litvak, dir., //Sorry, Wrong Number// (1948)
 * Alfred Hitchcock, dir., //Dial M for Murder//
 * David Mallet, dir., //Cats// (1998, PBS Great Performances)
 * Daniel Petrie, dir., //A Raisin in the Sun// (1961) and the Sean Comb's version of //A Raisin in the Sun//
 * //The Great Debaters//
 * //Twilight Zone// Episodes / "Time Enough at Last" //and/ or// "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"- irony
 * Def Jam Poetry Slams / "My Money is Acting Funny" by Poetri - pun
 * Mirra Bank, dir., //Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni// (1988)
 * //A Raisin in the Sun//
 * //42, Jackie Robinson Story (2013)//


 * Art**
 * "Macavity" from Cats (1998 Andrew LLoyd Webber)
 * Picasso


 * Additional Resources**
 * **Spring Board**/ Passages pertaining to the Dress Code Debate and Building Valid Arguments
 * **Texts and Lessons for Content- Area Reading** (Harvey Daniels/ Nancy Steineke) pages 99-129 and pages 225-239
 * **Vocabulary From Latin and Greek Roots: A Study of Word Families (Elizabeth Osborne)**

=Resource Links= []

Lyrics to Macavity

Twilight Zone website

Lesson Plan--Time Enough at Last

Biography of Rod Serling

Background Information on Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Background Information on Pablo Neruda

Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston (by Mary E. Lyons)

Sorrow's Kitchen

Radio Script for "Sorry Wrong Number"

=Activities=
 * Analyze the reliability and validity of commercials then create your own, using valid evidence and arguments.
 * Essay/ Writing Valid Arguments
 * Critique a film and analyze the extent to which the film stays faithful to or depart from the text or script, evaluate the choices made by the directors or actors.
 * Read and discuss a variety of dramatic fiction and nonfiction about plays, playwrights, public speakers, and poets.
 * Analyze how particular lines of dialogue propel the action and reveal aspects of character.
 * Compare and contrast characters, plots, themes, settings, and literary techniques used in plays and films.
 * Conduct research on a playwright or public speaker of choice.
 * Discuss how a sound argument is essential to engaging speakers.
 * Participate in group discussions and critically evaluate classmates' arguments.
 * Perform for classmates in a variety of styles (e.g., informational presentations, dramatic interpretation, poetry slams, or persuasive speeches.
 * Analyze the extent to which a performance or production stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made in the production.
 * Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story propel the action, reveal aspects of character, or provoke a decision.
 * Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience create such effects as suspense and humor.
 * Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stay faithful to or depart from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the directors or actors.
 * Critique and write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
 * Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevancy of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
 * Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
 * Interpret figures of speech (e.g., verbal irony, puns) in context.
 * Use the relationship between particular words to better understand each of the words.

=Assessments=
 * QUARTERLY EXAM: Mock NYS ELA 8 Exam**
 * Write an argumentative essay proving the premise that Walter Younger becomes a man at the end of the drama.

2. Create a commercial using the persuasive techniques discussed in class. 3. Write an extended response discussing how each of the characters in __The Raisin in the Sun__ are attempting to break through the constraints of the time period. 4. You have read // A Raisin in the Sun //, a play about one man's dreams for himself and his family. You have read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in which he speaks of the realities of life and his dreams for the future for all Americans. Although // Raisin // is fiction and Dr. King's speech is non-fiction, one can find many similarities between the two. In many ways // Raisin // exemplifies the points Dr. King made in his speech. Your assignment is to compare--find the similarities between--// A Raisin in the Sun // and King's "I Have a Dream" speech. 5. Create a multimedia presentation on "the greater good," where the message is either explicitly stated or implied. 6. View select scenes from the film versions of "A Raisin in the Sun" and compare them to the scenes as written. Analyze the extent to which a filmed version of a story or drama stays true or departs from the text, evaluating choices made by the director or actors.
 * Writing Assignments**
 * 1.** Chose one of the commercials viewed in class. Write a critque that highlights the persuasive techniques that are used in the commercial.

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